Shot Throught the Heart

sixteen

My alarm went off too early for my liking. I feel like I barely got any sleep as I pushed myself out of bed and took a look around my childhood bedroom. The sun still hasn't come up yet and I knew I needed to get moving as I still had to bring all of these boxes downstairs to load them into the truck. I went to the bathroom and quickly put myself together before returning to my room to get dressed in my camo. Once I was all dressed, I started to bring boxes downstairs.

            It took me about ten minutes to get everything downstairs and once it was all down, I unlocked the front door and started to load up them into the bed of the truck. The only thing I didn't put in the bed were the guns, they stayed by the front door for now and I'll grab them once we were ready to leave.

            After I was done loading the truck, I went back inside and kicked off my old sneakers. When I got to the kitchen I found mom and Peyton already waiting for me with a cup of coffee and an omelet on a plate. I sat down at the table and ate even though the omelet tasted like ash. I was able to get it all down and just sipped on the coffee. The kitchen was painfully silent as none of us really knew what to say to each other right now. Dominic walked through the front door when I was about half way through the cup. I sighed and looked down at my watch and saw the time. I stood from my chair and brought my plate and cup to the sink and started to wash them.

            When I was done I shut the water off and grabbed onto the lip of the sink to steady myself. I took a few seconds to breath before I turned around and looked at my family.

            "It's time." I said looking at the three of them. They all nodded and all moved to get there things. I looked around the house one final time before grabbing dad's gun case and ammunition box to take it out to the truck. I put the ammo box into the back seat and the gun case into the bed of the truck before returning to the house one final time. I tried not to look at anything as I laced up my boots. When I was finished, I grabbed my gun case and the keys to the truck and left moms house for the last time. I slid my gun case into the bed before rolling the bed cover down to cover the boxes and securing it in place before shutting the tailgate.

            I hopped into the drivers seat and it didn't take long for the rest of my family to join me in the truck. Once everyone was inside with seatbelts on, I started up the truck and pulled out of the driveway. I didn't look back as I pulled out of the driveway or look around as I continued to drive out of the neighborhood towards the highway. Eyes forward, already trying to get into my three feet world. With it being this early, there weren't many cars on the road and there wasn't much traffic as we made our way to Fort Bragg.

            When we got to the gate by the airfield, I gave the MPs all of my paperwork for my flight and for all of the boxes I was allowed to bring with me. They waved me through and told me someone will be waiting in the parking lot to take over my gear to the plane. I followed their directions and there was a crew of three airman waiting in a truck for me. Once I parked the truck I went over to them and let them know what I needed to take on the plane. As they started to load my gear up I asked if one of them were able to take me over to there armory. They agreed and told me to find them when I was done with my goodbyes and they'll take me over.

            By the time I was done with them, I knew I needed to say goodbye to my family. I took a few deep breaths before making the walk back over to them. Peyton came up to me first and pulled me into a tight hug. We didn't speak as I held onto her for a few moments. Just when I felt her start to pull away, I tightened my grip and turned my head to speak into her ear.

            "I love you mom."

            "I love you so much my sweat girl." Peyton said and pulled away from me. She gave me a watery smile before taking a step away from me and mom took her place. I don't know how, but mom's hug was tighter then Peytons. I felt like I could barely breath but then again, it could be from the situation as a whole.